Jason's phone rang.
It was a number he recognized immediately—Bellamy HQ, San Francisco.
He let it ring once more, then answered.
"Jason Nash."
A smooth voice replied. "Mr. Nash, this is Daniel Bellamy. I believe we should talk."
Jason stood in silence for a moment, then smiled faintly.
"I didn't expect the king to call his usurper so early."
Bellamy chuckled. "You're not a usurper. Yet. But you are… interesting."
Jason paced slowly across his office floor, gazing at the skyline of New York. The city hummed beneath him.
"I take it you're not calling to congratulate me."
"No," Bellamy said. "I'm calling to offer you $250 million. All cash. We acquire PulseCast, retain your team, and I offer you a board seat and full operational independence—for now."
Jason's brow twitched. It was tempting. Bellamy rarely made direct acquisitions. This was respect. Or fear.
"Tempting," Jason said. "But you know I can make that in eighteen months without handing over the keys."
Bellamy's voice chilled. "That's only true if I let you."
Jason stopped pacing. "Are you threatening me?"
"No, Mr. Nash," Bellamy replied. "I'm warning you. I've seen twenty of you. Bright. Disruptive. All of them either joined me or vanished."
Jason's smile returned.
"Then let me be the first you can't buy or bury."
Silence stretched.
Then Bellamy spoke again, slowly. "You just made a very expensive decision."
"I tend to do that," Jason replied, and hung up.
---
Later that evening, Jason told Naomi about the call as they walked hand-in-hand through Central Park.
"Are you worried?" she asked.
He glanced at her. "No. But I'm aware. He'll play dirty now."
Naomi nodded. "Then I'll stay sharp. I can do research. Dig up things he wouldn't want public."
Jason stopped walking.
"I don't want you involved in this part."
She raised her chin. "Too late. I'm not your secretary. I'm your partner."
Jason sighed—equal parts admiration and fear. He kissed her forehead. "Just don't get hurt."
Naomi smirked. "Same to you, billionaire."
---
The next day, Bellamy made his first move.
A wave of negative articles hit the tech blogs. Stories about PulseCast "leaking user data," "hosting controversial content," and "inflating traffic stats."
It was manufactured. But loud.
Jason responded in kind.
He released PulseCast Transparency, a real-time backend dashboard open to public scrutiny.
It trended for three days.
By the end of the week, Bellamy's PR campaign had backfired—and Jason's user base had grown another 17%.
Jason stood before his team.
"Lesson of the week," he said. "Never bring knives to a gunfight—especially if the other guy built the gun."
The team erupted in cheers.